Didn't intend on going this far with it, but whatever lol Yes there's the whole thing about shouting down city walls and such, but was that really necessary? Did it even really happen, or was it propaganda, or creative storytelling?Īnyway, I apologise for the long ass comment, and the rather large tangent I went on. This is why I've always been inclined to believe that the conquest of Tamriel by Septim and his legions would have been inevitable, and big stompy and all that shenanigans was just icing on the cake. That one good general made all the difference. Again, looking at the Romans for real world examples, in the second Punic War, the Roman legions continued to be decimated every time they entered battle with Hannibal due to poor leadership, until Scipio. The key part there being the good commander. History has shown an army of highly disciplined soldiers with a good commander will beat an army of highly skilled warriors every time. They are outstanding soldiers, not necessarily skilled warriors. It appears to be based off the Romans and their military, which focused on training discipline rather than individual fighting technique. This is why, I think, in terms of tes lore, the empire, and it's Imperial army, was so dominant. The maniple system proved itself to be superior to the phalanx when the Romans defeated the Macedonian and Seleucid empires, owing this, as I understand it, to it's greater flexibility for rough terrains and greater ability for changing formations mid battle. A small, disorganized band of bandits, however? That extra few seconds to reload is all someone would need to close the distance and shove his blade through their gut.Īnd as far as spears vs swords, spears were the primary weapon for a long time for all professional militaries, until ~300-400 bc when the Romans abandoned the phalanx in favor of the maniple system, which found the Romans using primarily a short sword, with pilum being used to throw into the enemies. A large, organized military would use the crossbows, as they would be firing in controlled volleys, and would have multiple lines of archers, allowing one to reload while the other fires. The distinction here is important, because which bow is more effective depends entirely on the context. Recurve bows, for the most part, are normally easier to draw initially, but require sustained effort to keep them drawn. The upside, however, is once it is drawn, it will stay drawn indefinitely, without any extra effort, until it is fired. Most every crossbow you can buy, assuming it is one which is legitimately intended for hunting and killing things, requires some mechanism which provides mechanical leverage to allow it to be drawn. There is how much strength is required to draw a bow, and how much strength is required to keep it drawn. The first of which is what is meant by draw strength. However I feel like there is a few distinctions which are worth adding. But this is a fantasy setting and bows are always going to be more popular than crossbows. Realistically the Imperials at the very least should indeed be using crossbows en-mass given they are portrayed as a unified and efficient standard military force. Crossbows do not have such a benefit even in irl. They combined the easy use nature of crossbows with the benefits of a spear (bayonets) and thereby easily supplanting all prior forms of weaponry. It stands to reason that the cultural norms/bias of Tamriel denizens are far more ingrained than irl.įirearms is also vastly different than crossbows. After hundreds years of unified Imperial rule, you'd expect the separate races of Tamriel to adopt more Imperial customs like subjugated races under the Roman Empire did but they have NOT. A place where there has seen barely any tech advancements (regression in fact) for thousands of years. You are entirely correct about IRL but this is Tamriel here. Longbows both outrange and outshoot regular crossbows there have been no indications in Tamriel that the Arbalest (heavy crossbow) has been invented and even if it has, its fire rate is abysmal. Realistically, only the Imperials and Bretons would be inclined to liberally use the crossbow but when matched up with a force that liberally employs Longbows (like perhaps the Dominion) they would be heavily outmatched. Also, the physiology of Tamriel denizens may render the issue of strength moot. Or how Nords might consider the crossbow a dishonorable or cowardly weapon. Or consider how the Altmer may feel that the crossbow is an in-elegant weapon over the bow for example. (scarcity) But in cultures like the Bosmer where using the bow seem to be a race-wide cultural norm, it becomes far less of an issue. The limitations of bowmen in real life is that they required specialized use/training over the crossbow. We have to consider the different cultural norms of Tamriel though.
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